ITALIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

This article aims to analyse the central role of authoritativeness in educational relationships. An initial terminological clarification will assert the need to give due weight to authoritativeness as distinct from authority and authoritarianism. The essential, irreplaceable function of authoritativeness in educational processes will then be analysed. Learning takes place, in fact, only in situations of asymmetry between those taking part. The delicate functioning of the authoritative educational relationship depends on an unequal distribution of power aimed solely at maturing the learner’s critical capacities. It follows that autonomy – the facile fetish of subjectivist educational theory – can be achieved only through acceptance of a well-established authoritative relationship.